But it depends on the area I guess. If there isn't a huge demand for rental properties you could try it. However, you also risk the landlord advertising the property almost immediately after you move in to see if someone will pay the extra, say, £200 per month.

Basically yes, but people are more likely to hold out for the rent they're asking, and undercutting what they want by £200pcm is unlikely to get you what you want, or make a friend of the landlord, in most markets. It can also depend a bit on whether you're a 'desirable' tenant. We actually had to go slightly over the advertised rent to get our current place, and there was another offer at the same rate, but as a family we were viewed as more desirable tenants, so got it.

I can only speak for fairly lively rental markets though. A property which has sat about for a bit in a slow market might be game for a cheeky under-offer.

Yes absolutely. As with a house purchase, depends on a variety of factors. The house we moved into was advertised for a 6 month let at £1150 per month. We were a family, perfect references, etc etc. It was December - landlord was probably looking at an empty property over the Christmas holidays etc etc. Offered £1000 per month but set out we'd sign up for 12 months (so landlord didn't have the possibility of an empty property again in 6 months or the hassle of finding another tenant). Rejected our offer initially (but we didn't increase), they came back to us a couple of days later to say yes.

And actually, landlords are commercial about it - usually handled by an agency anyway so saying you're not going to make a friend of the landlord by offering £200 less doesn't really matter. Our landlord bought us flowers when we moved out because we'd been such good tenants! There is a possibility that the landlord will want more, but if you agree on a reasonable rent, and if you're a good tenant, pay on time, look after the property, the landlord will want you to stay!

Yes in London you are expected to put in your 'offer. You say what rent you are offering, what you want included/excluded or any other conditions and this is given to the LL together with information about you.

You might find that you don't get the place if you don't offer the full amount of rent, but the agent should help give you a steer. Rental market v transparent so it should be easy to see what similar properties are renting for.

I would say yes, why not? They can only say no. It's good to check how long it's been on the market, and whether the rent's been reduced or looks overpriced compared to similar. Have a look on zoopla - you can search by 'most reduced' and in the SW London area I follow most, and where I have a rental flat, there are masses up for rent, and also quite a lot of reductions. Some LLs are really over-greedy, I think, and I say that as a LL myself.

I offered £100 a month under as i had deposit etc ready and could move in immediately. Flat had been up for 1 day. Worked full time, no benefits, no kids/pets. Wanted a long lease. LL came back and agreed to £75 less. I moved in that weekend.

We've always offered what was a fair rental. This was usual £25-£100 lower than asking. Most landlords have agreed to something lower than asking. We've also 'always' re-negotiated the price at the time of contract renewals depending on how long we were willing to signup or likely to stay put for. In every house the rent has been brought down - as we've demonstrated that we are good tenants & pay on time each month. If you don't ask you won't know. And rent is a recurring cost so always worth negotiating. Outer London boroughs here....

Definitely. Similar to PP. We offered on a house just before Christmas, wanting to move in on 18th Dec. Got house for £1000pcm instead of £1200 and signed up for 1 yr contract. For rents at that level, LL only needs property to remain unlet for one month to wipe out any benefit of holding out for higher rent. After a year we agreed to up the rent to £1100 as we were good tenants so he was happy to continue giving us a discount. It was a beautiful house too. Huge 5 bed house and practically brand new. 1200pcm was probably a reasonable market rent, but still expensive for our area as most family houses to let are 3 or 4 bed and under 1k pcm, so not easy to find a tenant.